


Genesis: Nightfall

by AlexIsOkay



Series: Genesis Volumes [2]
Category: Love Live! School Idol Project, Love Live! Sunshine!!
Genre: Angels vs. Demons, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-02
Updated: 2019-06-17
Packaged: 2020-04-06 17:32:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19067338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexIsOkay/pseuds/AlexIsOkay
Summary: Genesis: Nightfall is one of two companion works, telling the story of a clash between Heaven and Hell from the perspective of the demons. For the angels' perspective of these same events, you can read Genesis: Daybreak, which can be found here:https://archiveofourown.org/works/19067335/Each work will update simultaneously, with each chapter covering approximately the same events or time period from the two conflicting points of view. There is no correct order as to which work you should read first, though if you're finding this story after it's already underway or completed it's recommended that you alternate between the two, reading one chapter of each at a time in whichever order you please.This fic is on a temporary hiatus. I've stumbled up against a block while writing it and kind of burned myself out continuing to try, so rather than beating my head up against the same writer's block over and over I'm going to focus on other stuff for a while. I would like to get back to this story and finish eventually but for the time being I'm working on other projects.





	1. Chapter 1

You had never been especially fond of Heaven. The sun felt unfamiliar to her, given that it never showed itself down in the depths of Hell, and now that she was being confronted with what was effectively a giant blazing light in a disgustingly saturated blue sky she couldn’t help but feel a little put off by it.

“Focus up. I think that’s it.” You was snapped back to her more immediate surroundings by the sound of Kanan’s voice, and she glanced over to see the other demon pointing down, across the street, and towards the building opposite them. Kanan, You, and Chika were all gathered together on the top of one of Heaven’s especially gaudy buildings, looking over at the equally gaudy building that stood across from them. The structure didn’t stand out- not more than any of the structures in Heaven did, at least- but as You surveyed the structure she was equally confident that it was the one from the report they’d been given.

“Alright then,” she said. “What’s our plan of attack?”

“Isn’t that obvious?” Kanan replied, and You looked over just in time to see the other demon reaching out in front of her, arm outstretched into the thin air. The sleeve of Kanan’s dark shirt fluttered for a moment from an almost imperceptible breeze, and then, rather suddenly, flames shot out from the center of her grip, extending outward in a perfectly straight line in either direction. The flames stretched out for several feet on each side before flickering away and dissipating, and when they did a weapon was left in their wake: a large, heavy spear, made of dark black metal accented with red, twisted and gnarled in its craftsmanship. “We go in blasting.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Chika asked. “I mean, it seems kinda reckless, doesn’t it?”

“Who’s gonna stop us?” Kanan insisted. “There’s no way they’re expecting an attack right in the heart of their city like this. We’ll be in and out in two minutes. Gone before they even know what hit them.”

“I’m alright with that. Never been a fan of convoluted heist shit anyway,” You replied, before stretching her hands forward, cracking out her knuckles. Just as that popping noise came from her fingers flames burst out around her hands as well, swirling their way upwards until they had engulfed her arms almost entirely. And then, just as with Kanan, the flames rushed away as quickly as they had appeared, and in their stead You was left with a pair of dark, gnarled, spiked gauntlets, reaching up past her elbows and nearly all the way to her shoulders.

“Alright…” Chika agreed, though there was still a small note of hesitation in her voice. “If you’re sure about this.”

“Trust me. I’m sure,” You replied. “I’ll go in first. You two try to keep up.” You didn’t give anyone a chance to protest after that: before anyone else could say anything she was over the edge of the building, pushing off the ledge with enough force to throw herself across the street as she started plummeting towards the ground. You felt the wind rushing past her ears, stinging at her eyes, but as the ground rocketed closer and closer her mouth stretched into a huge grin, enthralled by just how _alive_ this all made her feel. As both the ground and the wall of the building got closer and closer You eventually raised a gauntlet-clad first up into the air, flames beginning to encircle her entire arm. And then, just before You made contact with the ground and the wall alike, she threw her fist forward towards the building.

All of the flames that had been gathering around her arm rushed down into that blow, and in an instant the entire wall in front of You was being ripped to pieces by an explosion so powerful it even pushed You backwards a bit. The concussive force of the blast rushed out around You, cracking the ground and shattering nearby windows, causing those unfortunate enough to be nearby to scream and scatter in whatever direction they could. The flames billowed out and engulfed bits of debris, leaving a smoldering crater directly in front of You. As she stood there amidst the ruins she’d just created, quite proud of her own handiwork, two sets of feet landed behind her.

“Subtle,” Kanan said, and You looked back to see Kanan and Chika both standing there, Chika having apparently produced her own weapon as she chased after You as well, now brandishing a large, vicious looking mace over her shoulder.

“They definitely know we’re here now,” Chika said, rushing past You to step inside the building. “Let’s hurry!” You nodded and chased after Chika, though she didn’t have to go far before they found exactly what they were looking for. The dark smoke pouring out from the remains of You’s fire had been thick enough to obscure her vision, but as she stepped out of the cloud she realized there wasn’t much in the room in front of them.

The area they entered into was large and circular, probably close to fifty feet from one end to the other, with a high ceiling that towered up stories and stories above them. The walls were featureless, aside from the lights that kept the space illuminated, and the floor was similarly bare, aside from a large decorative pattern worked into the tile. And then, sitting right there at the center of the room, resting atop a round pedestal that came up to around half You’s height, there was a book.

“You think this is it?” You asked.

“Looks like a codex to me,” Kanan replied. The three demons all approached the center of the room cautiously, as if still expecting some last-minute trap to be strung, but they managed to reach the pedestal without incident, and once they were standing closer to it You was able to get a better look. The book was bound with dark leather, the deep color alone existing in stark contrast to nearly everything else in Heaven. There was a large, intricate design set into the front of the cover, depicting several overlapping circles, and You’s eyes were most drawn to two circles in particular, one glowing a silvery-white at the top while the other glowed a purpleish-black near the bottom. All of the designs on the cover were attached to a latch which stretched around from the front cover to the back, keeping the pages sealed shut for the time being.

“Why do you think this thing is so important…?” Chika asked, her mace vanishing in a swirl of flame as she reached out to delicately pick the book up.

“I dunno,” Kanan replied. “But let’s maybe wonder about that somewhere else, alright?”

“Right,” Chika said, nodding and pulling the book closer, clutching it against her chest. “Out the same way we came in?”

“Yeah. Let’s go.” As soon as she’d said that Kanan lead the charge back across the room, towards the hole they’d left in the wall and the smoke that continued to pour out from it, and Chika and You were both quick to follow after her. Even before they’d cleared through the smoke You could tell the street outside was still in chaos, able to hear shouting and screaming as people continued to panic and flee from the site of the incident, and she was hoping that was something that would work to their advantage. It almost seemed as if that would be the case until, just as they started to emerge from the other side of the cloud of smoke, You caught a sudden, all-too-familiar glint of gold.

You’s head whipped over to the side, and standing there on the other side of the street she was able to see three angels staring at them, all of them brandishing weapons of their own. The first angel was blonde, hair pulled back into a ponytail, an ethereal golden sword shimmering in her grip. Beside her was an angel with darker hair, just shy of black, that ran down over her shoulders in two twintails, her arm coiled up with what appeared to be a whip of some sort. And, last of all, there was a particularly short demon, black hair held up in pigtails by bright ribbons, fists clad in gauntlets that were similar to You’s own, though far more elegant in their design. Notably, this last angel was charging right towards them.

Well, right towards Chika, at least.

You barely even had time to think before she was rushing into action, leaping forward to throw herself between Chika and the oncoming angel. “Oh no you don’t!” she shouted, hurling her fist forward in another powerful blow. As the angel realized she was being attacked she pivoted her course the smallest bit to catch You’s attack, and the moment they struck together a terrifyingly powerful shockwave tore out from between them, shattering more windows and sending chunks of rubble flying off in every direction. You stared dead into the angel’s eyes as they clashed, gritting her teeth as she tried to stand her ground, and the angel stared back with an equally determined expression.

“Dammit!” You heard Kanan shouting from behind her. “How the hell did they get here already??”

“You-chan!” Chika shouted a moment later, voice sounding distressed.

“I’m fine!” You insisted. “Run!”

“You’re not going anywhere!” the angel cut in, and she tried to break to the side to rush past You and give chase to Chika and Kanan, though You wasn’t about to late that happen.

“I should be saying the same to you!” You snapped back, managing to grab hold of her new rival by the arm before the angel was able to go far, grappling her and pulling her back in. As the angel was ripped away from Kanan and Chika she twisted around to throw another blow at You with her unrestrained arm, though You was able to get her other hand up in time to block the brunt of it- that said, despite her stature this angel was _strong_ , and You felt her arm getting jarred backwards as it absorbed the impact. Still, her grip held fast, and as You’s feet skidded backwards along the ground she pivoted on her heels, swinging the angel around and hurling her in the other direction. The throw wasn’t enough to knock the angel off balance, and she still landed soundly on her feet as she went sliding back a bit further, but knocking her off balance had never been You’s intention anyway. All that mattered was that now, You was standing between this angel and her friends.

That said, this was only the beginning of their problems. Out of the corner of her eye You could see the other two angels beginning to give chase to Kanan and Chika, though just as she turned to start to rush after them the smaller angel lunged towards her again, fist raised and ready to strike.

“You should really pay more attention to me!” she shouted, and You just barely managed to get her own arms up in time to block the attack. She was sent staggering backwards a little but, determined not to let herself be put on the backfoot, You immediately threw herself forward again, launching into an assault of her own.

“Sorry, but I really don’t have time for you!” she shouted back, fists brimming with flames as she let loose with a rapidfire series of blows. The angel frantically started raising her arms up in defense, though to her credit she was able to block each attack, the sound of metal repeatedly clashing against metal beginning to fill the street. You’s arms were straining themselves with each attack, both from the force of the punches and from the impact each one sent through her bones as it was blocked, and it almost came as a relief when the angel finally disengaged and jumped backwards. Not that it would last long.

As soon as she had put distance between herself and You the angel’s gauntlets began to glow even more vibrantly, and You watched with a combination of awe and fear as a second, much larger, ethereal pair of gauntlets began to shimmer into existence around them, wide fingers curling down into two enormous fists as the angel’s own hands did the same. Even from where she was standing You could feel the energy rushing off of them, making it clear enough to her that she wasn’t going to be able to put up a guard and stand her ground against an attack with that much strength behind it. You also had a feeling that if it connected she wasn’t going to be walking away in one piece, which really only left her with one option. In another instant the angel was rushing forward again, the air itself rippling around her gauntlets as she prepared to cut loose with a blow that was clearly intended to end the fight right then and there. You didn’t know just how much force was behind that attack, but she had a feeling dodging backwards would be like trying to outrun a bullet, and with the explosive force the angel’s gauntlets seemed to be packing, sideways didn’t seem like an option either. So really, that only left You with one far more dangerous choice.

You stood her ground as she watched the angel’s weight go into the attack, making sure not to move until her opponent was already committed, past a point where she could easily alter her course. As soon as that threshold had been crossed You ducked down and forward, springing off with her feet and launching herself just a bit to the side, dodging past her attacker to get behind her. The timing was split second, so much so that You could feel the wind and the crackle of energy from the gauntlet as it rushed past the top of her head, causing her hair and clothes alike to flutter backwards, causing her scalp to tingle.

Skimming just underneath the bottom of the strike You managed to dart past the angel before catching her feet on the ground and pivoting, and as she spun to face her attacker once more You realized she had been correct not to dodge backwards: even without connecting with a target the gauntlets still released all of the energy they’d built up at the end of the attack, the massive, ethereal gauntlets exploding and sending out another shockwave that ripped down the street, tearing through it like paper and sending chunks of the ground ripping off in every direction. For a moment You was caught up in the sight, in how narrowly she had just avoided death, but after a fraction of a second her eyes were drawn to something else instead: Further down the street Kanan and Chika were still locked into combat with the other two angels, Kanan fending off the whip-wielder while the swordbearer chased after Chika. You realized she needed to end this fight, and _now_.

Thankfully, she had been afforded the perfect opportunity to do so. Her own opponent still hadn’t quite recovered, still thrown off by the weight they had put into their own missed attack, back still turned to You, and You was going to use that fraction of a second window for all it was worth. Flames engulfed her arm as she funneled power and strength into her arm- an irresponsible amount, honestly, but now wasn’t a time for restraint.

“I _told you,_ ” You snapped, lunging forward with her flame-wreathed arm practically ripping out of its socket from the force she was putting behind her attack. “I DON’T! HAVE! TIME FOR YOU!” The angel had just barely started to turn her head before You’s fist connected with her back, and You could see the expression of shocked anguish writing itself across the angel’s face for just a moment before flames engulfed her vision. All of the fire encircling You’s arm converged in a single point before exploding back outwards, the blast so powerful that You felt it searing her own skin inside her gauntlet, causing her to wince and grit her teeth just to get through it. Still, as the flames cleared she could see the limp, no longer conscious form of the angel flying down the street, traveling quite a good distance before crashing to the ground, where it remained.

One down. Two more to go.

If You was being honest with herself, she didn’t know if she had two more in her. She had put far too much strength into that one attack, she now realized, and now her body was aching, screaming at her that she had pushed herself too far. She was panting heavily to try to catch her breath, arm still stinging inside her gauntlet, enough so that You was afraid to see how her skin would look when she pried the metal off. Still, as You lifted her eyes back up from the one angel she had defeated she found them locking with another, the blonde angel now staring right back at her. Did You see fear in her eyes? Or did she just want to believe she did? It didn’t matter. Either way, she couldn’t stop now. Not while Chika and Kanan were still in danger.

It was borderline suicidal to try to fight two angels at once, You knew that much, but with the way they were positioned at the moment she could just barely make it happen. Both angels were standing next to each other now, Chika and Kanan on the other side of them, and for at least a brief moment the two angels seemed rooted in place by the sight of You. You capitalized on that for all she could, launching herself forward and tearing across the street towards them. She lifted both arms up, though she barely even had the stamina left to light them ablaze by this point. As she came down on the two angels both of them hastily raised their weapons to defend themselves, the whip going rigid in the dark-haired angels hands as she attempted to block with it, and as You brought her fists down she crashed against both of them at once, shoulders feeling like they were being ripped from her torso by the force. Still, for a moment You had trapped them into a stalemate, and that was all she wanted. As they clashed You locked eyes with the blonde angel, though only for a moment before her eyes darted to the side, towards Kanan and Chika instead. They were both still standing there, both still rooted in place as they watched, as if they were unsure of whether to run or stay and fight, and You didn’t understand why they even had to consider the choice.

“Get out of here!” she shouted, causing both angels to look back over their shoulders as well.

“But- But You-chan!” Chika shouted back. “We can’t-”

“I said GO!” You roared, pouring more of the last reserves of her strength into her gauntlets, causing them to flare up as she raised her voice. It was the obvious decision to You at this point: she had overexerted herself. She was little more than a burden at this point. If Kanan and Chika tried to help her now they would only be jeopardizing not only themselves, but their entire mission in coming here. She had never been a fan of convoluted plots. But she was a sucker for heroics.

“Nozomi!” the blonde angel shouted, starting to try to pull away from You. “We can’t let them-!” You knew where that thought was going, though, and she wasn’t going to allow it. Her fingers curled around the sword and the whip at the same time, metal gauntlets crunching down into both of them, and You shot Chika one last stern, commanding look before returning her attention to the angels, dropping her voice down to the lowest, most fearsome growl she could muster.

“Turn your back on me again,” she hissed, “and I’ll rip both your spines out in a fucking second.” She was bluffing, knowing full well she didn’t have nearly enough strength left to take on one of these angels, let alone both of them. But if she could fool them for even a few seconds, that was really all she needed, and to sell the ruse she strained her arms to pull both angels forward, ripping them as far from Kanan and Chika as she could. Her grip on the angel’s weapons faltered, allowing them to break loose from her, but still, You was determined not to give them a moment to react on her own terms. As soon as her hold was broken she charged towards the sword bearing angel again, beginning to throw the last of her strength into another vicious series of blows that the angel was only barely able to block.

“Nozomi!” the angel shouted. “Septum-punctum sigillum!”

“Right!” You heard the other angel shout from behind her. Flanked as she was she couldn’t keep an eye on both of them at once, and as the blonde angel jumped back to disengage You’s attention was caught by her sword, beginning to glow as it arced through the air. The angel spun around once as she jumped back, sword following her in a broad swing, suddenly leaving a series of shimmering golden afterimages in its wake. And then, with a flick of her hand, the angel sent the ephemeral blades flying up into the air, and as You’s eyes followed their trajectory she saw the other angel’s whip shooting skyward as well, seeming to act on its own as it ascended. The swords arranged themselves into a seven-pointed ring in the sky, blades facing directly downwards towards the ground, and as they hovered there the whip started to circle and wrap around the outside of that shape several times over, forming a perimeter among them.

For a moment You watched this spectacle, some part of her genuinely captivated by what she was witnessing. But then, after a second or two, she ripped her eyes away, instead looking down the street towards where Kanan and Chika had been just a moment before. There was no sign of them now, however, which told You all she needed to know, and content in the knowledge that her friends had made it to safety You didn’t even attempt to move out of the way as the swords pierced down into the ground around her, as the coils of the whip suddenly twisted around her body, pinning her arms to her sides and pulling her to her knees on the shattered street. You twisted and thrashed a bit, more for spectacle than anything, though she already knew that getting out of a seal like this one would be difficult even under normal circumstances. In her current condition, it was nigh impossible.

With You subdued the swordbearing angel finally began to walk towards her again, raising her blade enough to press it to You’s neck. “Give up,” she said, her voice calm and authoritative. “You’ve lost.” You raised her eyes to look at the angel, and was met with a steely, emotionless gaze. Apparently that fear she’d thought she’d seen earlier really had just been in her imagination. Despite that, however, You still couldn’t stop herself from grinning.

“Have I?” she replied, before her eyes flicked back over to the empty street where Kanan and Chika had previously stood. “Seems to me like I did my job just fine.” As You said that the angel’s eyes glanced over to follow You’s gaze, and You couldn’t help but take a little pleasure in the look of dissatisfaction that crossed over her face as she did so.

“Nozomi,” she angel said, blade pressing to You’s neck just a bit more firmly. “Make sure Nico-chan is alright. Then alert our superior. I think she’ll have some questions for this one.


	2. Chapter 2

Deep down in the pits of hell there was a dark, dimly lit room, walls almost pitch black while a few slowly burning torches illuminated the space, glowing with deeply colored flames that seemed like they shouldn’t have been possible. There in the center of the room was a small round table, made of a similarly dark material, and two demons stood on either side of it, hands pressed flat against the surface, and against the recently stolen codex, which was resting there in front of them. Riko and Hanamaru both had their eyes shut, both of them appearing deep in concentration, and the surface of the codex seemed to be reacting to their presence; the golden rings that were inlaid across the cover were shimmering and flickering in and out, and the dark purple circle at the bottom of the cover was shining more vigorously now. The silver circle at the top, however, still hadn’t changed in the slightest.

This scene continued for a few more seconds before Riko’s hands finally pulled back, her shoulders slumping down as she took a few shaky breaths, seeming physically exhausted despite the fact that she had done nothing but stand there for the past several minutes at this point. “I think that’s all I’m good for,” she sighed, Hanamaru’s hands pulling away as well while Riko’s eyes lingered on the cover. The moment neither of them were touching it the rings on the surface returned to the state they had been in when the demons had first taken the codex, the golden glow growing steady once again while the purple circle dimmed back down to a faint shine.

“Still nothing…” Hanamaru murmured under her breath, crouching down to bring her eyes closer to the surface of the book. It had been like this for a while now: the seal keeping the book shut had been stubborn, stubborn enough that Kanan hadn’t been able to rip it open through brute force alone. The book was clearly being kept shut by some sort of magical means, though what, precisely, those means were was yet to be determined. Out of the entirety of their group Riko and Hanamaru had the greatest knowledge of these sorts of arcane matters, aside from perhaps Dia. Seeing as how Dia was otherwise occupied at the moment, however, the task of prying the codex open had been entrusted to them. So far, they were running up against a dead end.

“Why do you think it’s sealed so tightly?” Riko asked, reaching out to touch a cautious finger against the cover of the book, seeing the slightest of reactions in the cover once more as she did so.

“Hmm?” Hanamaru replied, and Riko glanced up to make eye contact with her.

“I mean… Whatever’s in here must be important if it’s sealed this tightly, don’t you think? Whatever’s inside… Someone must not have wanted that information to fall into the wrong hands.”

“Information… Or power?” Hanamaru mused, though she wasn’t looking directly back at Riko now. She seemed to be thinking out loud, not looking towards anything in particular, finger tapping up against her chin. Riko raised an eyebrow, confused for a moment before she followed Hanamaru’s train of thought, at which point she shook her head.

“I don’t think this is like your tome, Maru-chan,” she replied. “If this was somebody’s weapon… I don’t think it would have persisted for this long when separated from its owner.”

“To think, what sort of forbidden knowledge might be contained in an ancient manuscript such as this one,” a new voice cut through the room, causing Riko to jump up as she heard it. Her head pivoted towards the corner where, out of the shadows, another figure was emerging. “Even if we were to look inside, could our minds truly comprehend what we saw? Are these secrets too dangerous for us to fathom? Were they locked away for our own safety?”

“Yocchan!” Riko hissed, glaring at Yohane from across the table. “I told you not to sneak up on me like that! How long were you standing there??”

“How long have any of us truly been anywhere?” Yohane replied. “Eons crumble away in the blink of an eye, and to think of time in such simplistic and linear-” Wherever that sentence might have been going, it was cut off by a yelp and a whine of pain as the codex came flying across the room, the spine nailing her directly in the forehead. It probably wasn’t the greatest idea to use such an ancient and powerful item as a blunt projectile, but Riko figured that if it could stand unmoved against all their attempts to open it thus far, it could probably withstand being hurled at her girlfriend as well.

“Owwww!” Yohane whined out, rubbing at the red spot that was already forming on her skin. “I came in when you two were all focused! Don’t throw stuff at me!”

“Then don’t sneak up on me!” Riko repeated.

“It’s not my fault you-!” Yohane started to say, though once again she was interrupted mid-sentence. This time, however, rather than being cut off by an object being hurled at her, she was cut off by a loud crashing noise coming from directly above them. All eyes moved to look towards the ceiling, and for a moment everyone was silent before Hanamaru spoke up.

“Are they still fighting…?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Riko replied, giving a slow, solemn nod. "It seems like it.”

In the room just above them, Kanan was gritting her teeth together, hand clenched into a tight fist, the heel of her palm throbbing after being slammed down into the surface of a table. The table had it much worse, though: Kanan had split it nearly clean in two, and a massive crack now ran down the middle, center buckling inwards under the stress. Kanan stood like that for a few seconds, nostrils flared out, body trembling, before she spun back around to face the other end of the room. Sitting there across from her in a wide armchair, expression stoic and unmoving despite the sight unfolding in front of her, was Dia. And standing to the side of Dia and behind her just a little bit, looking far more uncomfortable with the situation than Dia herself, was Ruby.

“How the fuck can you say something like that??” Kanan seethed. “Do you have any idea what they could be doing to her right now??”

“I am _painfully_ aware,” Dia replied.

“And you’re okay with just letting that happen?? You just wanna leave her there??”

“What else would you have me do??” Dia snapped back. “Do you expect me to launch a full scale assault on the center of Heaven itself? Your mission was a fraction as dangerous as that would be and we _still_ lost someone to it. Trying to stage a rescue would be downright suicidal.”

“Then I’m not afraid to die,” Kanan insisted. “I’m not leaving her there.”

“And I’m not going to permit you to throw your life away in some vain attempt at heroism. I won’t allow it.”

“You can’t stop me.”

“Maybe not,” a new voice suddenly echoed through the room. “But hopefully you’ll be more willing to listen to me.” The voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere all at once, though as soon as it had spoken a single point of flame suddenly appeared in the air close beside Kanan. That point quickly stretched out vertically, extending up a few more feet and down until it reached the ground, and then it stretched outward, until it had taken the shape of a large round burning portal.

From that portal two figures emerged: both were dressed in the same black clothes as the demons, both of them with dark hair and deep reddish pink eyes. One of them was taller than the other, walking slightly forward of her, the portal’s flames licking at their forms as they stepped into the room. No sooner had they shown their faces than Kanan was whipping towards them, flames bursting out from her own hand, and in an instant she was brandishing her spear and jutting it forward, tip hovering a fraction of an inch from the taller woman’s neck.

“You,” she growled, hand still trembling with anger as she spoke. “This is _your_ fault.”

“Kanan!” Dia snapped, before her eyes flitted over to their new arrivals. “Please, forgive her, Sarah-san. She’s not in her right state of mind at the moment.”

“That’s what you wanna call it??” Kanan snapped, still staring Sarah dead in the eyes. “You told us we would be safe. You told us there wouldn’t be archangels there. What did you even need that stupid book for so badly anyway?? Was this worth it??” she demanded. “Was it worth losing You??”

“She’s not lost yet,” Sarah replied, reaching her hand up to delicately nudge the tip of Kanan’s spear away from her throat. When Kanan heard that her expression softened, at least a small bit, spear lowering further.

“What are you-” she started to ask, though Dia was quick to cut her off with the exact same question.

“What are you suggesting?” Dia said. “You can’t mean-”

“Kanan’s suggestion of a rescue mission would be outright suicide. You’re correct about that, Dia,” Sarah replied. “However, there are other ways of getting You back. Even angels can be reasoned with.”

In the grand scheme of history, Sarah and Leah hadn’t been around for very long at all. Unlike most demons, who had been born from the hellfire at the very dawn of the universe, Sarah and Leah were very recent arrivals, and nobody knew where they had come from, or how. Despite that, however, it hadn’t taken the sisters long at all to begin making a name for themselves. They were terribly powerful, terribly cunning, and terribly charismatic, enough so to get Hell’s nine most powerful demons working underneath them. Hell didn’t have a formal structure of leadership the same way Heaven did. But if anyone deserved the title regardless, it was them.

“How do you expect us to reason with them after what we did?” Dia asked, causing Sarah’s eyes to turn to her.

“From a position of leverage, of course,” Sarah replied. “They have something we want, yes. But we also have something _they_ want.”

“...The codex.”

“Precisely.”

“I thought the codex was important,” Kanan cut in. “Now you’re saying we give it back to them after everything we went through to get it in the first place?”

“Strategy games aren’t won in a single move, Kanan,” Sarah said, a smile curling over her lips that only seemed to put Kanan even more on edge. “If offering to give the codex back now is what will give us the advantage in the long run then that’s what we’ll do.”

“Even if we make that offer, there’s no way they’ll accept it,” Dia insisted. “Heaven would never bargain with us.”

“Heaven, as a _collective_ , would never bargain with you,” Sarah said, raising a finger to correct Dia. “But individuals… Not every angel is as strictly bound by the rules as you might think. There are those who would be perfectly willing to make these sorts of deals with you.”

“You sound like you already have someone in mind,” Dia replied.

“Perceptive as always, Dia. I do,” Kanan agreed. “And I can show you all exactly where to find her.”

“And why should we trust you?” Kanan demanded. “After the way everything went last time I’m not exactly jumping at the chance to charge back into Heaven on your word.”

“Not to worry,” Sarah answered. “You won’t be.” That answer only seemed to anger Kanan further, teeth gritting back together as, almost involuntarily, flames started to flicker up from her spear.

“ _What?_ ”

“With all due respect, Kanan, I think your strong personal feelings on this matter might make it hard for you to approach the situation diplomatically. Dia,” Sarah said. “I’m entrusting this matter to you.”

“You’re sending _me_ to Heaven?” Dia asked.

“I need you to agree to this now,” Sarah replied, her smile stretching up a little bit more. “You’re only going to hate the idea even more once I tell you who to take.” Dia stared back at Sarah for a moment after she’d said that, seeming more confused than anything. And then, all at once, a look of horrified realization fell over her face.

“No.”

“Yes.”

“ _No._ ”

“Say what you will about her,” Sarah insisted, “but there’s no denying that Yohane is more familiar with Heaven than any of us. If I’d had the foresight to include her in the last mission we might not even been in this situation in the first place. And despite her erraticism, you can’t deny that Mari has a certain… Business savvy about her that will prove useful in our bargaining. She’s practically the reason the phrase ‘deal with the devil’ exists.”

“She’s also the reason the phrase ‘tearing your hair out’ exists,” Dia replied. “It’s like you want me to go insane.”

“I’m just thinking about this in practical terms,” Sarah insisted, before looking back towards Kanan once again. “I trust you’re confident in Dia’s ability to handle this mission?” she asked. For a moment Kanan was still enraged about the thought of not being permitted to go, hand still clenched tightly around the grip of her spear. Deep down, however, she realized Sarah was right: with how much she cared about You, and how furious she was about the entire situation, she couldn’t entirely trust herself not to snap and ruin any attempt at diplomacy they might be able to make. As much as she hated to admit it, she would be more of a liability than anything else. If she wanted You back, it seemed like it was best to play Sarah’s game at least a little bit longer.

“Fine,” she eventually conceded, dropping her arm and letting her spear vanish back into flame. “But if this doesn’t work I’m going in there,” she insisted. “I don’t care if I have to go alone, or if I have to cut down an entire army of angels all by myself. I’m bringing You back.”

“Fair enough,” Sarah replied. “If it comes to that, I won’t try to stop you.”


	3. Chapter 3

“Oh, how Heaven’s ire crashes down upon us. Truly, this white hot son burns more fervently than all the fires of Hell combined, a searing reminder of our transgressions against the-”

“Will you _please. Be. Quiet,_ ” Dia hissed, spitting the words out through gritted teeth. Her eyebrow was twitching, and that twitching only become more aggressive when she felt a hand clapping against her shoulder.

“Cheer up, Dia-chan! You hardly seem like you’re enjoying our vacation at all!”

“This isn’t a vacation!” At present, Dia was huddled together on a rooftop alongside two of her least favorite people: Mari and Yohane. She surely would have lost her mind entirely by this point, were it not for the fact that her little sister was there to support her through this trying time as well. When formulating this plan Sarah hadn’t explicitly told Dia to bring Ruby with her, but she hadn’t needed to. Ruby and Dia were nearly inseparable, and wherever Dia went Ruby followed. It went without saying.

All four of them were up on a rooftop not that far from where Kanan, Chika, and You had been two days prior, carefully surveying the street below. It seemed relatively empty at the moment, but if Sarah’s intelligence was to be believed, their target would be passing through here before too much longer. And Dia _did_ trust Sarah on this matter, even if Sarah had gotten details wrong the last time around. By and large, she and Leah were reliable sources of information. Even if they made the occasional mistake. And even if they condemned Dia to a mission alongside Yohane and Mari.

“Anything can be a vacation if you go into it with the right mindset,” Mari insisted. “I bet Ruby-chan understands that. Don’t you, dear?” Dia looked over just in time to see Mari pinching at Ruby’s cheeks, and to see Ruby squealing in response.

“Cut that out,” she snapped, reaching out to quickly swat Mari’s hands away. Mari huffed as she pulled back, shaking the slaps off for a moment before turning her nose up at Dia.

“Always so serious,” she chided. “Maybe when we get back home I’ll have to see if Maru-chan knows any spells to pull that enormous stick out of your-”

“Onee-chan!” Mari was interrupted mid-sentence by Ruby’s voice, and all three of them quickly looked over to see the smallest member of their group pointing down towards the street below. Dia rushed to the edge of the roof to get a better look, Mari and Yohane right beside her, and as she peered down over the edge towards the street she was able to see precisely what Ruby was pointing at: an angel, walking along the street, seemingly still unaware of their presence. The angel had dark hair, pulled into two twin tails that fell forward over her shoulders, and her vibrant green eyes were visible even from the distance they were at. Dia had never seen her face before, but there was no doubt in her mind this was the person they had been sent to find.

“Excellent work, Ruby,” Dia said, prompting a small smile to appear on Ruby’s face. “Everyone, let’s go.” No sooner had Dia said that than she was throwing herself forward off the edge of the building, plummeting towards the ground, and from the corner of her vision she could see everyone else jumping off the ledge right beside her. Wind whipped in Dia’s ears as she fell through the air, ground coming closer with each second, and hardly a moment later she was crashing onto the street, feeling it crack underneath her as she landed, though Dia herself seemed unfazed. The same could be said for the others: Ruby landed close by Dia while Yohane and Mari were spread out a bit more, deliberately landing in such a way that they surrounded the angel on all sides. Yohane and Mari, Dia could now see, had both summoned up their weapons on the way down as well. A massive battle ax was slung over Mari’s shoulder, flames still flickering off the head, while Yohane was clutching the shaft of a scythe behind her back, the blade resting against the ground.

Speaking of weapons, though, the angel they had just surrounded seemed to have adopted a very “defend herself first, ask questions later” mindset. She was facing Dia dead on, and as a flash of golden light appeared just beside her a whip suddenly materialized in her grip, cracking through the air in a wide arc, directly towards were Dia was standing. Dia had expected to be attacked on sight, and this didn’t surprise her, though what happened next was almost too quick for the eye to even see.

When Ruby had first landed she had been behind Dia, on the opposite side of her sister from where the angel was standing. As the angel’s weapon materialized, though, and as it swung through the air, there was a sudden flurry of flame, bursting out from where Ruby had been standing and wrapping around in front of Dia. In an instant Ruby was in front of her sister, hand shooting up into the air, and as the whip came swinging down and cracking onto Ruby’s palm the small demon’s fingers curled around it, locking it into a tight grip. Flames continued to spill from Ruby’s hand as she clenched her fist around the whip, glaring back at the angel through narrowed eyes, teeth gritting together. The angel made a visible attempt to pull her weapon back, but that only caused Ruby to grab hold of it more tightly still, until Dia finally interjected.

“We’re not here to harm you,” she stated. “We’ve come to bargain.” As a showing of good faith Ruby finally released the angel’s whip at that point, and the angel was quick to pull it back towards her. She didn’t immediately try to attack again, though a skeptical expression was still written on her face.

“Coming all the way to heaven just to bargain with an angel?” she asked. “I’m not sure I trust that.”

“If you don’t trust her, then perhaps you’ll be more inclined to trust me,” Yohane spoke up, causing the angel to turn to look at her. As she did Dia could see the angel’s expression change, something that almost looked like a smile appearing on her face. That said, it was the same sort of smile Dia had come to recognize from people like Mari or Sarah, and she didn’t trust it for an instant.

“Well, well,” the angel said, starting to drop her defensive posture. “There’s a face I never thought I would come across again. What brings you here, Yoshiko-chan?”

“Yohane,” Yohane corrected.

“Yohane, of course,” the angel agreed, chuckling lightly as she said the name. “Still, after a few hundred years I really wasn’t expecting you to show your face around here. Then again,” she added, her eyes flitting back and forth between the other demons that currently surrounded her. “You don’t seem like you’ve just come to chat. Eli-chi will be just heartbroken when I tell her you came through and didn’t even bother to say hello.”

“That’s enough of that,” Dia interrupted, eyes still firmly locked on the angel this entire time, carefully watching for any indication that she might decide to attack after all. “You’re the one called Nozomi, aren’t you?”

“That would be correct,” the angel replied, now turning to face Dia once more. “While Yoshi- _Yohane_ -chan and I are quite well acquainted, though, I don’t think we’ve ever met. Would you do me the honor of an introduction?” Even after Nozomi said that Dia’s eyes stayed firmly locked on her face a moment longer, still not entirely trusting the situation. She was waiting for Nozomi to make another move, and she was prepared to react in an instant if it came to that. This was supposed to be a diplomatic mission, though, no matter how Dia might have felt about it. So, regardless of her own thoughts, it was best to stay civil for now.

“Dia,” she eventually said, before motioning towards her sister, still standing between herself and Nozomi. “And this is Ruby.”

“Mari,” Mari chimed in, letting her axe slip down from over her shoulder. She let it swing around her palm until the head thunked against the ground, and then she started to walk around in front of it, finger tracing around the handle as she went. “You seem like a fairly reasonable person, Nozomi-san. You’re not trying to kill us, at the very least.”

“And I can’t help but notice that you’re not trying to kill me either,” Nozomi replied, pivoting on her heels to face Mari. “That alone seems unusual.”

“Well, it’s like Dia-chan said. We just came here to bargain.”

“Cornering a lone person in a sidestreet and vastly outnumbering her like this feels like a strange way to start a negotiation, you know,” Nozomi pointed out.

“It was the only way we could be sure you would stop and listen to us,” Dia replied, prompting Nozomi to glance over towards her.

“Well, you certainly have my attention now. What did you come here to negotiate about?”

“You-san,” Dia said, causing the almost perpetual smile on Nozomi’s face to flicker for just a moment. “You’re holding one of our friends prisoner. We want to negotiate for her release.”

“That’s a rather tall order,” Nozomi replied. “And I’m really not sure I’m the right person to be talking to about this. Keeping watch on her has hardly been my responsibility.”

“But you still have access to her, don’t you?” As Dia asked that question Nozomi stared at her for another moment, and then her lips curled up more, smile stretching wider, and a small bit of laughter escaped her.

“How do you know all of this?” she asked. Dia merely stared back at her, another second passing before Nozomi laughed once more, looking towards Yohane. “I’m impressed you still remember so much. I would have thought this many centuries would dull your memory.”

“You flatter me,” Yohane replied, staring back to meet Nozomi’s gaze. “Though your assumptions are misguided. Infallible as my ancient memory may be, there are others among us who-”

“Yohane,” Dia interrupted. “That’s enough.”

“Of course, we wouldn’t dream of making demands like this empty handed,” Mari chimed in once again, still twirling her axe against the ground as she spoke to Nozomi. “We have something that you want as well, don’t we?” Nozomi looked back towards Mari at that, staring for a moment before giving a slow nod.

“You’re talking about whatever you stole from us,” she said.

“Whatever?” Mari repeated, a bit of high-pitched laughter escaping her, causing Dia to grit her teeth. “You make it sound like you don’t even know that it is. Unless,” she went on, gasping rather suddenly. “You actually _don’t_ know. Could that be the case?”

“I’m sure that even if it was, I wouldn’t give you further leverage by admitting that,” Nozomi replied. She was smiling, and Mari was smiling, but suddenly Dia felt a chill running down her spine. Despite the pleasant expressions, the pleasant words, the pleasant demeanors, there was an undeniable tension hanging in the air between them, and Dia could feel it even from where she was standing. Another second of silence ticked past after Nozomi spoke, and as Dia looked towards Mari, watching invisible calculations tick away behind her eyes, there was something terrifying about it. Perhaps she didn’t always give Mari enough credit, styling herself as the leader of their little group (at least in so far as Sarah and Leah weren’t involved). But right now, watching this exchange between Mari and Nozomi, Dia suddenly couldn’t help but feel as though she was out of her depth.

“You’ve given me such a wealth of options, Nozomi-san,” Mari eventually said. “What am I to do now? Lie and pretend our little plunder is so much more valuable and powerful than it actually is so you’ll feel more pressured to get it back by any means necessary? Or understate it and pretend it wasn’t worth much at all so you won’t find it suspicious that we’re suddenly willing to give it back? And of course, that’s all to say nothing of the fact that, now that we know you don’t know what you’re looking for, we could simply offer up any old thing we wanted and try to pull one over on you that way You would have no way of knowing if we were _actually_ returning what we took or just some useless bauble we had laying around. Honestly, there are so many choices it’s almost unfair to ask me to pick just one. But,” Mari said, suddenly raising up a finger, as if to interrupt herself. “As a little show of good faith, I’m not going to do any of that. I’ll just be completely honest with you: we stole an old book that looked important, we can’t figure out how to break the seal on the cover, and now we’re more interested in getting our friend back than in some dusty old tome anyway. Does that sound believable?”

It felt strange, honestly sort of uncomfortable, for Dia to see Mari laying out the entire truth so bluntly like that. It felt like they were giving something up, like this was all the sort of valuable information they should have been keeping as close to the chest as possible. Dia desperately wanted to interrupt and cut Mari off, and staying silent to have faith in her was one of the hardest things she had ever done. Her eyes were desperately darting back and forth between Mari and Nozomi, looking for any sign of reaction on Nozomi’s face, trying to figure out was going through the angel’s mind, only to come up entirely blank.

“I have a feeling you’re not asking me to ask my boss about this,” Nozomi eventually said.

“We were told you would be far more agreeable,” Mari replied.

“You’re asking me to put my own neck out on the line quite a bit here. Negotiating with demons and freeing a prisoner, all without my superior’s permission.”

“Perhaps,” Mari agreed. “But if this old book is half as important as it’s been made out to be, maybe you’ll also by a hero for getting it back. No guts no glory, you know?” Once more Nozomi fell silent for a few seconds after Mari spoke, though even from where she was standing Dia could make out the angel’s eyes slowly moving between the four of them. They hovered on Mari first, then glanced towards Dia, then shifted in front of Dia just a little bit to look at Ruby instead, before finally moving in the opposite direction to look at Yohane. They lingered on Yohane for a fraction of a second longer than they had while looking at anyone else, before Nozomi finally looked back towards Mari once more, and nodded.

“Very well,” she said. “Name your time and location.”

“The Terminus,” Dia cut in. “Tomorrow. At dawn. You bring You, and we’ll bring the codex. Do we have a deal?”

“You do,” Nozomi replied, turning to face Dia. “You have my word. And an angel’s word,” she said, smiling wryly, “is worth something.” Something about the way Nozomi said that made Dia grow even more uneasy than she had already been, and it only made her that much more eager to return home now that their negotiations were done. Just as she was about to say as much, however, Nozomi pivoted once again, so much so that Dia tensed up, almost prepared for the worst. Nozomi lifted the arm that was holding her whip, though rather than attacking with it the whip suddenly disappeared in a little shower of sparkles, and with her hand raised Nozomi simply gestured towards herself.

“Yohane-chan,” she said. “Come here a moment.” Yohane was visibly surprised by that, going rigid for a moment as Nozomi called her forward. Yohane’s eyes moved towards Mari, then towards Dia, both of them seeming equally uncertain about the situation. Nozomi didn’t seem threatening at the moment, though, especially with the lack of a weapon, and so Yohane finally returned her eyes to the angel, cautiously beginning to approach. She kept a tight grip on her scythe while she went, feet scraping across the ground with obvious reservation and uncertainty, until she had finally come to stand just a foot or so in front of Nozomi.

As soon as Yohane was within reach Nozomi stretched her hand out, though slowly enough so as not to seem threatening with the gesture. She stretched a single fingertip forward, which she then touched lightly against Yohane's chest. Yohane flinched away at first, shoulders going even more tense, chest sucking in a bit, and Mari’s grip suddenly shifted to have a proper hold on her axe once more, Ruby’s fists pulling up into a fighting stance. Nozomi didn’t go any further though, her finger simply resting against Yohane’s chest a moment longer, before she smiled softly at the fallen angel.

“There’s still a little bit of light left in you yet,” she declared. When Yohane first heard that she looked startled, caught off guard and unsure of how to respond. After only a second or two, though, she was suddenly hardening her expression again, looking away from Nozomi and turning her nose up.

“Hardly,” she replied. “My light was snuffed out centuries ago.”

“Perhaps not quite as much as you think. I suppose you’ll all be going now, though?” Nozomi then asked, looking back towards Dia and Mari.

“Yes,” Dia said, staring back at Nozomi while she spoke. “Ruby?” Ruby nodded when she heard her name, stepping away from Dia a little bit before raising a hand up into the air. Flames started to lick at Ruby’s fingertips as she lifted her hand, and then she pulled down sharply, cutting through the air itself and leaving a strip of flame in her wake. That strip quickly stretched itself out into a portal, which Dia and Mari began to move towards. Yohane  stayed in front of Nozomi just a moment longer before she started to pull herself away as well, following after the others, though even then her heard turned a little bit to keep looking at Nozomi as she went. Finally, when all four of them were gathered directly in front of the portal, Dia looked back towards Nozomi one last time.

“We’ll see you tomorrow, then?”

“Yes,” Nozomi replied. “At dawn.”

“Good.” And, with that, Dia stepped forward, pushing herself through the ring of flames. For a moment her vision was completely obscured by the bright orange light, and then she found herself stepping out into one of the familiar rooms of their group’s hideaway down in hell. And coming face to face with Sarah and Leah.

Sarah and leah were both sitting at opposite ends of a couch, looking fairly relaxed at the moment. They didn’t move to stand up as Dia entered the room, though they did at least look towards her, and towards Mari and Yohane and Ruby who were spilling out of the portal behind her. It was only once all four of them had entered the room and the portal itself had sealed back up that Leah finally spoke.

“You’re back soon.”

“I take it your negotiations went well?” Sarah added.

“They… They did,” Dia replied.

“And she took the bait?” Sarah asked. This time Dia faltered for a moment, opening her mouth to answer only to find no words coming out. She hesitated, then looked down, breaking her eyes away from Sarah.

“She… She did,” Dia eventually answered, voice softer now. She was quiet for a moment, before speaking up again. “Is this really necessary?”

“I thought I already explained this to you,” Sarah replied. She stood up from the couch, and in doing so lifted her hands from her lap, revealing the codex that had been resting there. Sarah held the book out in front of her as she approached Dia, lifting it up so that the cover would be visible. “You can beat your head against this problem for as many centuries as you’d like,” she said, touching a finger to the deep purple circle at the bottom of the book. “And you might make a little bit of progress. But it’s not going to open all the way,” she continued, tracing her finger back up to the silver circle at the top, “without a little angelic help. This is what you want, isn’t it?”

“This is what _you_ want,” Dia mumbled back, though Sarah simply laughed.

“I assure you,” she said, “our goals are aligned in this matter. You’ll be well rewarded for your cooperation. Now go ahead and get some rest,” she added. “You have a big day tomorrow.”


End file.
